Summary

Three studies were conducted to discover both whether or not helping is perceived as leading to a good mood and whether or not helping actually does affect mood. A total of 157 male and 159 female college students participated. Ss believed that performing five different altruistic behaviors would raise their mood significantly but that a sixth, giving money to a panhandler, would lower it. Two field experiments revealed that (a) giving directions to a person requesting them had no effect on mood, but (b) Ss induced to help a female confederate search for a “lost” piece of paper reported a significantly more positive mood than control group Ss. It was concluded that some but not all types of helping can indeed produce a good mood.